"And that's why I try to run them over"

This comic strip wraps so many stereotypes into one (an "ultimate summary of this unfortunate stereotype"), and then gets the "cyclists must ride in the bike lane" part wrong too. But, I guess it's hard to come up with something funny every day.

I think it's worth noting the context of this strip. Jef Mallett, who draws Frazz, is a cycling enthusiast. So this strip is Pastis' of giving crap to a friend of his.

Pastis posted this after a 2009 strip: "For those of you asking about the comic strip Frazz today, the creator Jef Mallett and I are good friends. Jef is a cyclist. When he saw me making fun of a cyclist named Jeff a few weeks back, he called and asked if it was him. I said yes, but that I had deleted one "f" to throw him off the trail. I invited him to make fun of a rude lawyer named Pastis."

Anyway, I still don't think it works because:
a) Inside jokes don't make good humor in a mass-market comic strip.
b) A lot of people will take it seriously even if 1) it's "just a joke" and 2) the road rage thing comes from Rat, an evil character.

Anyway, people should be aware of this because, "OMG, you said it was OK to bump cyclists" can be legitimately met with, "you're missing the point." I'd advise more of a, "your attempt at making fun of your friend gives encouragement to idiots who actually think like Rat."

this really makes me mad for all the obvious reasons. also it's widely circulated and a lot of people like this comic. It is giving legitimacy to all kinds of wrong stereotypes, standards (cyclist should ride in a bike lane only), and opens the door to running cyclists over. Yes, I know rat is an evil character, but when the cyclist is portrayed so negatively, it seems the message is that cyclists deserve such treatment.

That comic pretty much encapsulates the tone of the modern cycling community, of which I have been a part for over two decades (and of which I am increasingly becoming ashamed). A kind of unreasonable militancy has overtaken rational discussion and advocacy, which is why the community has been facing so much resistance as of late. Instead of (once again) expressing your self-righteous indignation, try considering why the great, great majority of the general public finds that stereotype to be so accurate.

I don't see any self-righteous indignation. There isn't even any indignation. In general I just see it as not-particularly funny comic strip (which is an admittedly difficult medium in which to be funny) with an offensive line uttered by an offensive character.

I also don't think that it "encapsulates the tone of the modern cycling community." Most cyclists don't wear spandex. Hell, most CaBi users don't wear helmets. Most cyclists aren't racers or fitness-oriented. So, that you think it represents the modern cycling community says more about which cyclists you're hanging out with. Try a Kidical Mass ride some time.

Finally, I've never seen a cyclist behave in a manner that even closely resembles this. Try asking cyclists why they don't use the bike lane and see if they reply with some non-sequitur (a much funny strip if you ask me).

This does represent what people think cyclists are like, but that has more to do with fundamental attribution errors than anything. The number of cyclists I've heard justify their behavior with claims of moral superiority (one, for those keeping count, and he was quickly shut down by other cyclists) is astronomically dwarfed by the number of people who think that's how cyclists think.

Why are they so wrong? I don't know, why do so many people think Obama was born in Kenya?

Instead of (once again) expressing your self-righteous indignation, try considering why the great, great majority of the general public finds that stereotype to be so accurate.

Um, sure I know this one. The reason there are a lot of assholes that hate on bicyclists (but by no means "the great majority of the general public") is that the numbers of cyclists are increasing.

So more people are likely to experience the minor inconvenience of a cyclist on the road in front of them on their daily commute.

If every cyclist rode recreationally on a bike path, we'd never hear a peep from these people. Furthermore, fuck them. They're a sizable and very vocal minority. The only answer is to grow the number of people on bikes.